In various present day golf shoes, the ground-engaging spikes are fastened in receptacles which are embedded in the shoe's outsole underlying an intermediate sole such as a foamed shock-absorbing midsole. In some shoes of this type, the outsole is formed with a relatively thin ground-engaging base portion to enhance the flexibility of the shoe, and the spike receptacles are embedded or encapsulated in raised cap-like capsule portions which are integral with and disposed on the upper side of the outsole's base portion to interface with the overlying, shock-absorbing intermediate sole. Because of this construction, the spikes exert discomforting, highly localized pressure points on the wearer's foot when the wearer is walking on hard ground or other hard surfaces.